By Holy See Mission
Statement by the Holy See Delegation
Economic and Social Council55th session of the Commission on the
Status of Women
On Item 3 (a)-(c):Follow-up to the Fourth World Conference on Women
and to the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly
entitled “Women 2000: gender equality, development and peace for the
twenty-first century”
New York, 28 February 2011
Mr. Chairman,
On the occasion of this fifty-fifth session of the Commission on
the Status of Women (CSW), my delegation takes this opportunity to focus on the
priority and review themes presently under consideration. In this regard, my
delegation continues to emphasize that education is a key to the authentic
advancement of women in the world. Education not only helps the woman who
pursues it, but also the community to which she belongs.
In this context, each and every person has great potential. A
real education unlocks that potential and forms the person so as to be properly
prepared to make a concrete contribution to family life as well as that of the
community and society as a whole. The principles by which educational agencies,
institutions and schools operate must be firmly rooted in a profound respect for
human dignity and with full respect for religious and cultural values. If this
is absent, then education is no longer a means of authentic enlightenment but
becomes a tool of control by those who administer it.
Values rooted in the natural law common to humanity play a key
role in the proper education of the human person. This needs to be better
understood and more actively promoted for the authentic advancement of women.
Those who receive an education become wise members of society who can properly
choose and pursue that which is good personally and communally and avoid that
which is not good for the self and for others. Primary education should focus
on basic skills and it must fully respect the primary role of parents regarding
their children, especially in, but not limited to, the area of human
sexuality.
The provision of quality primary education is especially
necessary for children who live in developing countries. Studies have
consistently demonstrated that basic education is a key to overcoming poverty
and thus a guarantor of the sustainable development of communities and
societies.
In this regard, it is important to recognize the outstanding
contribution of countless consecrated women religious who are engaged especially
in poverty reduction, health and education, and have been at the forefront of
helping children in countries around the world, devoting special attention to
those especially in developing countries. These women engage in selfless
service to help such children come to a greater appreciation of their inherent
worth.
Given the many technological advancements of today, it is
important that children be given the education necessary to take advantage of
the communications media. Equally important, they need to be educated about
the inherent dangers in such technology, especially the Internet, and receive
proper guidance in this regard.
Mr. Chairman,
For some time now in this Commission, emphasis has been given to
the promotion of women’s equal access to full employment and decent work. In
this regard, the whole labor process must be organized and adapted to respect
the requirements of the person and his or her forms of life, above all life in
the home, taking into account the individual’s age and sex.
In many societies today women work in nearly every sector of
life. However, they should be able to fulfill their tasks in accordance with
their own authentic nature, without being discriminated against and without
being excluded from jobs for which they are capable, with full respect for their
family aspirations and for their specific role in contributing, together with
men, to the common good of society.
The true advancement of women requires that labor should be
structured in such a way that women do not have to pay for their advancement by
abandoning what is specific to them and at the expense of the family, in which
women and mothers have an irreplaceable role. As foundational instruments of
the United Nations Organization rightly point out, the family, founded on the
marriage between a man and woman, is the natural and fundamental group unit of
society and is entitled to protection by society and the State (cf., Universal
Declaration of Human Rights, Art. 16,3; International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights, Art. 23,1). For this reason, women who choose marriage must
be supported, as should their husbands and their children. Civil legislation
regarding marriage ought to protect the family which is necessary for the
preservation and increase of the human community.
Mr. Chairman,
My delegation must stress that violence and unjust
discrimination against girls must never be tolerated. For this reason all
States must enact and enforce legislation to protect girls from all forms of
violence and exploitation, from conception onwards, including abortion,
especially sex-selective abortion, female infanticide, female genital
mutilation, rape, domestic violence, incest, sexual abuse, sexual exploitation,
child prostitution and child pornography, trafficking and forced migration,
forced labor, and forced marriage as well as marriage under legal age. States
must also develop, where they have not already done so, appropriate support
services to assist girls who have suffered violence and unjust
discrimination.
A tragically high number of girls are particularly vulnerable:
orphans, children living on the street, internally displaced and refugee
children, children affected by trafficking and sexual and economic exploitation,
children living with HIV/AIDS and children who are incarcerated without parental
support.
States must address the needs of such children by implementing
policies and strategies to build and strengthen governmental, community and
family capacities to provide a supportive environment for such children,
including by offering appropriate counseling and psychosocial support as well as
by ensuring their enrollment in school and access to shelter, good nutrition and
social services on an equal basis with other children.
Mr. Chairman,
Taking up the issue of human trafficking, my delegation cannot
stress enough that this form of modern slavery must end and it must end now!
All States have a serious responsibility to devise, enforce and strengthen
effective child and youth protection to combat, eliminate and prosecute all
forms of trafficking in women and children, including for sexual and economic
exploitation, as part of a comprehensive anti-trafficking strategy within wider
efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against women and children, taking
effective measures against the criminalization of women and children who are
victims of exploitation and ensuring that women and children who have been
exploited receive access to the necessary psychosocial support.
International instruments have been effectively contributing
toward an end to trafficking in persons. Yet States need to augment concrete
and concerted efforts to work together to put an end to this heinous crime by
addressing adequately the demand side of trafficking in persons by strengthening
laws against prostitution of children and adults, child pornography and sexual
exploitation.
The authentic advancement of women begins with full respect for
the dignity and worth of all persons. Such respect must take into account the
entire life cycle - from conception to natural death - and States have the
responsibility to ensure this in their national legislations.
Mr. Chairman,
The authentic advancement of women necessarily entails
recognition of the deep fundamental anthropological truths about man and woman,
the equality of their dignity and the unity of both, the well-rooted and
profound diversity between the masculine and the feminine and their vocation to
reciprocity and complementarity, to collaboration and to communion. The more we
respect this truth of human nature, the more we will be able to confront the
challenges which continue to face women today and assist them on the road to
authentic advancement around the world.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
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